Title of the Project: “Employability Skills of Techno-management students
and Industry Requirement- A Study with special focus
on SC/ST Students in Andhra Pradesh”.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Y. Subbarayudu
Project Fellow: Mr.E. Nagaraju
Name of the Department: Department of Business Management
Funding Agency: UGC, New Delhi (F.No.5-269/2014 (HRP)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
India is witnessing the age of science and technology. The demand for professionals such
as technical and managerial has been increasing in modern India and the education system also
should be changed or updated as per the changing requirements of the world as the main source
for the technical or managerial professionals is the higher education particularly the engineering
and management institutions. Technical and management education system existed in the higher
educational institutions in the country is an important source of these knowledge, where the
workforce is nurtured with required skills to meet the industry requirements.The techno
management education is supposed to cultivate employability skills required by almost all the
corporate sector. The advances in technology which is available to consumers made India to skip
the large scale industrial revolution compared to other developing countries like China and grow
based on the services sector compared to manufacturing. This lead to more requirements of
skilled people in the techno services sector. Education in India has to gear itself to meet the
demands of this new industry both domestically and internationally.
India has one of the largest Higher Education System in the World, with more than 700
Universities and 35,500+ colleges out of which 115 Universities and 5672 colleges teach various
Technical and management disciplines and More than 12 million students on their rolls and half
a million teachers teaching in all disciplines. But, only 25 per cent of technical students and eight
to ten percent of management graduates are acquiring required skills and fit for industry to hire.
The rest of people remain as unemployed. So, the reason for “Unemployment or under
employment” is not the lack of demand or lack of supply, but It’s the lack of “Quality Supply.”.
Industry and academia should go hand in hand with proper mutual understanding. Technical
people needed for the industry should be supplied by the higher educational institutions or
research centers and the kind of technology or knowledge needed for innovative production
should be informed to the educational institutions so that they can make such students in the
institutions. So, these two are interdependent organizations. But, in fact there is a gap between
industry and academia. Technical and management educational institutions are not producing
such quality graduates. Students are not equipped with the expectations of the industry. The
techno management educational institutions especially run by private and affiliated institutions
have failed to train the students to keep pace with the changing technology and knowledge in the
industry. A gradual overhaul of the education imparted particularly in the graduation and post-
graduation levels is highly needed at the moment to prepare for the next decade.
The state of weaker sections in taking positions in corporate sector is worst when
compared to others. Despite many initiatives taken by the government of India over the past few
years, real impact is yet to reach the hinterlands of the country compared to their urban
counterparts.
Every year about 20-30 percent of the students from weaker sections particularly SC and
STs qualify with technical and management degrees and the Government is also spending crores
of rupees in the form of fee reimbursement, Scholarships etc., yet “How many of the SC and ST
techno – management students enter the private sector, is a question mark.
The Indian government has adopted an affirmative action policy of reservations to
weaker sections in public sector units with respect to employment but a similar policy for the
private sector is critically lacking. Political activists from parties like Bhahujan have
been demanding reservations in corporate sector for a few years now, but this demand has fallen
on deaf ears. According to proponents of capitalism, the private sector is above caste, class and
gender; what matters is your talent and competitive spirit. However, this claim falls flat if one
delves deeper. In a study by Sukhdeo Thorat and Paul Attewell, published in Economic and
Political Weekly in 2007, it was revealed that persons with upper caste sounding names have a
higher chance of getting called for interviews than persons with Muslim and Dalit sounding
names, even if there was no difference in their qualifications. A study by Thorat and Attewell in
2010 observed that for equally qualified SC and upper caste (about 4800 each) applicants, SCs
had 67 percent less chance of receiving calls for an interview.
The interview process marginalizes non-upper caste individuals. A lot of HR
professionals ask interviewees about their family background, to gauge if they come from a
“good family” (read upper caste family). In professional jobs, employers do not just look for
candidates with right qualifications but also those who “fit in”, have right kind of soft skills, can
gel with the “workplace culture”. Since the workplaces are upper caste dominated, the criteria for
fitting in are also imbued with upper caste values. The hiring process in private sector is opaque.
Job openings are not advertised well or not advertised at all. Managers rely on referrals, asking
their own employees to “ask around”. This results in employees being drawn from the same
upper-caste social groups. Lot of businesses are owned by families, where caste affinities get
reflected in the hiring.
Employers consciously and subconsciously choose candidates who dress, eat, talk like
themselves. The class bias is more than apparent at the interview stage itself. At the time of the
interview, candidates are supposed to dress up a certain way, wear certain kind of shoes, appear
“formal” and be proficient in English. Many Bahujan students looking for a job for the first time
do not have the money to buy “formal” clothes and shoes, or anybody in their family they can
borrow from. They feel like an outsider at every step, or are made to feel so. It hampers their
confidence and affects performance in the interview. It is the first time many of them are
entering the shiny glass walls of corporate offices, which is an overwhelming experience for
them. Number of students of students of these communities who get in to the corporate sector is
very poor when compared to other upper caste pupil. Huge gap may be observed between the
industry requirements and skills of these students. Financial, social backwardness of them might
be one of the important reasons for not meeting the requirements of the private corporate. Hence
the present study has been undertaken to find the actual status of the students in terms of skills
and knowledge and the reasons for the situation prevailed and the implications to be
incorporated.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following main objectives of this work are designed forpaying towards research gap
1. To identify the much sought after skill-set by the industry from the fresh Techno-
management graduates.
2. To investigatethe skill-set levels among techno management graduates of techno
management institutions in Andhra Pradesh.
3. To explore the gap between Industry Requirement and Observed Skill-Set among
Techno-management graduates particularly among the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled
Tribe students pursuing Engineering and Management Courses in Andhra Pradesh.
4. To analyze the causes of reduced employability skills among the Techno-Management
graduates in Andhra Pradesh.
5. To identify the initiatives for techno management institutions for better employability of
Techno- management graduates in Andhra Pradesh.
METHODOLOGY
The present study is very contemporary in nature with the initiation from global level
changes for the better manpower supply to the industry by actively involving the students in
acquainting the skills required in order to be hired by the organizations. The Area Selected for
the Study is Andhra Pradesh the second largest state in number of engineering and management
educational institutions. For the purpose of arriving meaningful conclusions, it is planned to
collect the information from three important sources such as teachers/academicians, HR
Managers/industrialists and Students pursuing final year of engineering and management
education. Data has been collected from 1600 respondents belonging to students, Academicians
and HR people from industry. The 1600 sample respondents include 800 students (400 from SC
and ST students and 400 from others); 400 respondents from teachers/ academicians working for
higher educational institutions and 400 from industry.
Multi-stage random sampling technique has been adopted for gathering the information
from the respondents. In the first stage, the sample area is divided into regions such as SV
University region, SK University region, AN University region and Andhra University regions in
the state of AndhraPradesh. Four engineering and management colleges have been selected from
each University region in the second stage. In the third stage, 50 students who are pursuing final
year management and engineering education have been selected. For the purpose of specific
study on Scheduled Caste and Tribe students, it is seen that 25 graduates from each college must
be of these communities. Hence, the total sample size for SC/ST Student respondents has
become 400 and for others 400.
Data Collection Mechanism
Secondary data is collected from related books, international, national and referred
journals, magazines, fortnights, newspapers, websites and official records of Ministry of Higher
Education, Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Information Technology, and Ministry of
Revenue of Andhra Pradesh.
Primary data has been collected from three sources such as students, Academicians and
HR professional. First, the HR professionals were distributed the questionnaires and the opinions
on the skills expected by the industry were drawn. Based on this industrial experts’ opinion a
well-structured questionnaire covering Functional Skills, Creative and Problem Solving Skills,
Programming and Technical Skills, Organizational Skills, Analytical Skills, has been developed
and given to panel of jury members consisting of the principal investigator, recruiting experts
from IT, Telecom, Banking and Manufacture and required to observe the said skill set among
the students by conducting written tests, Group discussions and in depth interviews. The panel of
jury was asked to rate the skills on the five-point Likert Scale starting from 1 being strongly
disagree, 2 Disagree, 3 Neither Disagree nor agree, 4 Agree and 5 Strongly Agree.
Findings
The study concentrates on finding out the prevailing educational standards of the students
who are pursuing the engineering and Management students, exploring the gap between the
industry requirements and the students actual potentialities or skill, reasons for reduced
employability skills among the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students of engineering
and Management and the implications to be implemented.
Andhra Pradesh was the fifth largest state in terms of total population in India. It has
sizeable Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes population (ST). As per Census of India
2010 the SC and ST social groups together comprised of one-fourth of India's population (SCs
around 16% and STs 8%). Number of students pursuing engineering and Management courses
from these communities is also substantial mainly due to fee reimbursement programme
introduced by Government of Andhra Pradesh. During the academic year 2017-18 the number of
SC and ST students admitted in Engineering and Technical institutions is 13349. In the case of
management, it is 4930. As per India Skills Report 2015, it is found out that of all the students
entering the job market across the country, hardly 1/3rd meet the criteria of the employment set
by the employers. Skills required to work or to get employment in the companies vary from
company to company. The required skill set to be possessed by the job seekers to get in to
different sectors more particularly, Information Technology & Information Technology enabled
Services Industry, Telecom Industry, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance Industry and
Infrastructure Industry, is as under:
Common Employability Skills requirements for the Industry
Effective Communication and business
presentations
Project management and Business
Intelligence
Comments handling Assigning or delegating responsibility
Team build skills and Work well Risk taking ability & Meeting deadlines
Motivating and directing others Prioritizing tasks based on its urgency
Learn from team mates Monitoring progress against the plan
Introducing improvements New skill adaption to new situations
Recognizing alternative routes for task system designing & processing Skills
In depth technical competence Programming languages and Software
proficiency
Rapport with superiors and subordinates Emotional Intelligence
Quick decision making Quantitative aptitude
Functioning with multidisciplinary teams Data interpretation and Analysis
Human networking skills Business computations
working tool or equipment proficiency Stress Management.
critical events completion Ability to work independently.
conflict management Managing multitasking.
Identification of problems & formulation Energy level with positive attitude.
Capability for creativity and innovation Passion towards the work.
Sorting out the relevant data to solve the
problem
Adaptability and Flexibility
Contributing to group problem solving Self-management and responsibility
Strategic Thinking skills Personal & corporate Etiquette
All these skills are grouped in to six factors such as Functional skills, Creative and Problem-
Solving Skills, Programming and Technical Skills, Analytical Skills, Organizational Skills and
Behavioral Skills for assessing their order of requirement in the organization. After having
interactions with the personnel who are working in different industrial sectors, the skills to be
possessed by the students are prioritized by adopting the Likert’s Five Point Scale and identified
as Ability to make effective business presentations, Effective communication within the team
and at large and Introducing improvements on a regular basis from Functional Skills; Make
decisions on the basis of thorough analysis of the situation, Sorting out the relevant data to solve
the problem and Skill of establishing the critical events to be completed from Creative and
Problem Solving Skills; Ability of designing a system component, Programming language and
Software proficiency and Project management skills from Programming and Technical Skills;
Managing several tasks at once, Prioritizing tasks based on its urgency or Importance and
Assigning or delegating responsibility from Organizational Skills; Data interpretation and
arithmetic ability from Analytical Skills; High energy level with positive attitude, Stress
management and Managing multitasking from Behavioural Skills.
These skills are observed in the SC and ST students pursuing engineering and
Management courses and the gap is measured between expected i.e essential skills for the
industry and the actual skills possessed by the students. The skill gap has been ascertained after
enquiring the employers, HR professionals from different companies and the techno management
students.
It’s found that the Gap exists in respect of all the functional skills but a considerable gap
is found in Ability to make effective business presentations, Effective Communication within the
team and at large and Ability to Learn from team mates.
There is a gap in case of creative and problem solving skill requirement but out of all the
skills under this category ‘Sorting out the relevant data to solve the problem, Quick decision
making thorough situation analysis and Skill of establishing the critical events to be completed
have more gap when compared to others.
The programming and technical skills also appeared as one of the very high skill gap
factors. The average mean score gap existed between the industry requirement and observed
skills among the SC and ST student respondents. The skills with the more gaps under this
category are ‘Business Intelligence, Ability to design a system component to process to meet
desired needs, and in depth technical competence.
The gap between industry requirement and observed skill set among SC/ST Techno
management students with regard to organizational skill factor also existed as significant one and
factors with high mean score are the Skill of Managing or overseeing several tasks at once,
Prioritizing tasks based on its urgency or Importance and Risk-taking ability and Meeting
deadlines.
In analytical skills also there is a gap between industry requirement and observed skill set
of SC/St students. Behavioural skill is the only factor which has harvested the least gap
between industry requirement and perceived skill set among SC/ST students.
Institutional Quality Issues
Institutional quality is a certain set of standards to be complied by the Universities during
the stay of the students in the institution. The standards can be set by the Universities in their
deemed capacity or by any central organization looking after or regulating such universities. The
institutional quality includes quality of education and quality of infrastructural facilities like labs,
libraries, buildings, equipments required for imparting education etc,. These are important
aspects in shaping the graduates to be work ready. After thorough discussions with the students
and faculty members, some important institutional quality requirements such as Curriculum
Design, Pedagogy/ Teaching Practices, Faculty Quality, Student Evaluation Methods, Training &
Placement, Infrastructural facilities are identified
Opinions of faculty members on curriculum design are recorded on Likerts five-point
scale. Average opinion of all the teacher respondents is that the present curriculum design is not
up to the industry expected standards. They opined that Periodical review on curriculum, Design
of industrial visits and internships, Industry experts participation and Practical hands on training
and class work are poor in the institutions.
Teaching Practices is an extremely important factor to bring up a worthy student. All the
sample respondents from teaching community felt that the existing teaching practices in
affiliated engineering and management colleges are less effective and less productive. Faculty
members are in the hurry of syllabus completion and preparing the students for the examinations
but developing the employability skills in them is undermined.
Quality of the faculty is another important parameter in measuring the institutional
quality. Lack of requisite Qualifications and Industry experience for the Faculty are some
elements which deteriorate quality.
The student evaluation practices of the Techno management institutions are also a key
factor of measuring the institutional quality. Student evaluation through examination, viva voce
and lab practical’s is being done in a very nominal way. For increasing the number of
admissions, private affiliated colleges are benevolent in conducting the examinations and
awarding the marks in external examinations too.
The training and placement cells in colleges are in effective rather failed in providing job
specific knowledge, organizing institute industry interactions, industry internships, in conducting
the campus drives etc.,
Opinion of the respondents pertaining to infrastructural facilities also depressing, as the
techno management colleges are not fully established with adequate infrastructure facilities. The
student’s quality derives out of the college atmosphere and environment where he/she is
nurtured. The classrooms and the library are two important factors to it but they are weak in
many colleges.
EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS- ACDEMIC AND INDUSTRIAL EXPERTS OUTLOOK
As a part of the programme, the principal Investigator interacted with many learned people, they
include philanthropic entrepreneurs, social conscious academicians and many other who decently
spoke their feelings out in the interviews with me. I feel their suggestions and narration of
present plight of higher education in India are really worth considering and thought over. Below
are some of the interactions with the responsible good Samaritans’
It’s always unclear about what the
industry looks for in the prospective employees
and hence the educational institutions are at
cross roads as to what exactly needs to be
imparted to make the students industry ready.
There is no proper coordination between the
industry and higher educational institutions.
Industry should join hands with higher
educational institutions in shaping the students
fit for jobs in the future and explain the exact
skill sets which make them stand apart from the
ordinary folks.
Views of Prof. Rajasekhar,
He laid much emphasis on student’s
evaluation in the higher educational
institutions. He suggested a distinct three
stage evaluation process which he feels is a
fool proof method.
Stage 1. Internal examinations should be
conducted in descriptive mode as it is now
with no change.
Stage 2. The external examinations in
objective mode through online
Stage 3. Practical observation tests in the corporate set up instead of current VIVA-VOCE.
The logic behind this three-stage evaluation method is the avoidance of malpractices and
speedy results being online, and students get to know the corporate set up.
If the evaluation or assessment is done on line, malpractices in conducting the
examinations and in valuation of answer booklets can be minimized and speedy results also
possible.
Principal investigator with Former Vice-
Chancellor Acharya
NagarjunaUniversity, Guntur, Anghra
Pradesh
Principal investigator with
Prof. B.Rajasekhar,
Dean,School of Business Management,
University of Hyderabad
Dr. M Venkateshwarlu,
He is of the opinion that many
students though they are good at academics
and score well they are unable to get jobs
either in private or public sector. He opined
that there is a strong and reasonable
pragmatic mismatch between what they are
taught in the class room and what is asked of
them in the job market. Neither the institute
knows what is expected by the industry nor
is the industry bothered to inform the
institute. This needs to be broken at one time
and the gap needs to be filled otherwise the social suffering will never cease.
STUDENT SKILLS- VIEWS OF INDUSTRY EXPERTS
Anilkumar Reddy,
Many more students with inadequate
essential qualities and skills are getting
admitted in many colleges with inadequate
facilities through inappropriate admission
process. Thesecourse duration of 2 or 3
years will not be sufficient for the already
handicapped educational institutions to
make them industry ready. He advocated
that the educational institutions should have
tie up with the industry to allow students to
be in the companies for a semester period
to get some hands-on experience so that they can understand actual requirements of the
companies. But he advises that the government should come forward to give some
stipend to the students for the period of their stay in the companies.Teaching mechanism
should be monitored closely both in private and Govt institutions. Government is
Principal investigator with
Dr. M Venkateshwarlu,
Director,
Indian institute of economics, Hyderabad
Principal investigator with Anil Kumar Reddy
past President Federation of Telangana and
Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (Formerly FABCI) Hydearabad
spending crores of rupees on skill development centers but, in practice, skill development
centers have poor infrastructure, seed capital and poor technical trainers.
M. Narayana Reddy,
As part of corporate social responsibility,
companies should adopt some colleges;
provide needed infrastructure and all other
facilities to these colleges. This should be
done through a District Administrator.
Basic subject or technical knowledge
should be imparted in the educational
institutions itself. Later if the student is put
in the company for some period as an
apprentice trainee, he may be molded
according to the requirements of the industry. Each company requires different skills. So,
the student should have some basic knowledge which makes them transform according to
the needs of the company.
Satish Kumar D.V
The academic curriculum and teaching are
not keeping pace with the developing
technological revolution in the industry.
This change in the technology should be
reflected in curriculum and teaching
methods should change using this
technology. Universities and industry
should collaboratively workout to avoid
displeasing output. The students should be
made perfect in communication and other
soft skill area in schooling itself. In higher
education, making the student to learn all
M. Narayana Reddy
Managing Director
VORCHOW Laboratories Ltd, Hyderabad
Satish Kumar D.V
Regional Head
IT-ITeS Sector Skill Council, NASSCOM
Hyderabad Region
those is not possible for he needs to concentrate on many other things which make him fit in to
the industry.
Sri Ramamurthy,
Current education system is based on a
traditional evaluation system of just
conducting a final examination and
awarding degree but this is very much an
inappropriate evaluation method in the
context of very dynamic employer
requirements. Technology and business
are interlinked and there are no boundaries
for technological innovations.
Globalization has paved ways to connect
multinationals and work together in a
single location. We are running with outdated syllabi with no concern or consideration for the
latest technologies in the curriculum and personality development and communication skills are
just out of syllabus. We are not bothered about all the above said things but they only are vital in
the current scenario. Not a single teacher has any idea about the latest developments in the
industry but sticks on to teaching out dated lessons in the class which is of mere wasting of
student’s youthful time. Government and other educational departments like UGC and AICTE
keep on conducting workshops and forms committees and rapidly changes the guidelines related
to Higher Education later abruptly forgets the execution and controlling parts. This is just an
evidence of irresponsibility. No sincere efforts at any stage or level to bring quality in higher
education. Until and unless sea changes take place in the thinking of government, officials,
teachers and even the students we can’t anticipate quality in higher education.
Sri Ramamurthy,
Managing Director-
Sri Chaithanya chemicals, Kadapa.
SUGGESSIONS
Quality of the students in any educational institution, irrespective of the level , depends
on quality of the institution. Quality of the institution depends on quality of academic as well as
infrastructural facilities. Engineering and Management educational institutions are not
exceptional to this principle. Hence, educational institutions should concentrate to develop
academically as well as infrastructurally.
IMPLICATIONS TO THE INSTITUTIONS
Curriculum Development
Considering the ever-changing nature of the industry and the labor market, it has become
imperative to ascertain how best the academic curriculum can address various industry
requirements. Despite the exponential change in almost every field, college curriculum stands
still with no revisions to adapt with the change.
It is advised that curriculum should be revised at regular intervals of time and is to be
developed in accordance with the industry needs. The course, syllabus and subjects need to be
updated and synchronized with the current industry requirements. Research and Development
wings of the industries should be linked with academicians in the universities so that the
curriculum can be developed in accordance with the industry requirements. There should be
continuous interaction between industry and educational institutions and knowledge sharing
should become a common activity. All the innovations, developments and advancements in the
industry should be passed on to institutions and the students are to be imparted the same.
Industries and Universities should be interdependent in letter and spirit while developing the
curriculum/pedagogy. Both of them have to exchange their ideas and research findings in order
to mitigate rather nullify the gap between these two. Interaction with educational institutions
needs to be felt as a responsibility by the Industry else leads to dearth of skilled people in near
future.
Teaching Practices
Teaching practices being followed in the higher educational institutions, particularly in
the Engineering and Management colleges need to be updated. Teaching should be more
realistic, live and practical than being theoretical. Class room teaching should provide the
students a chance to know about what is happening in the industry. The best way for this is to
invite People from industry to colleges and have them train the students in real time
environment. Students also should be placed in the organization for at least six months to one
year so that they can gain hands on experience. Case study-based teaching, flipped classrooms,
smart boards, podcasts, gaming interventions are essential.
Most skilling programs need to be integrated with On-The Job training and
apprenticeship in order to be able to provide a more holistic learning which can make the talent
pool more effective, employable and productive.
Faculty/ Teacher Quality
It is observed that almost all the private institutions particularly MBA colleges have a
very meager percentage or no such qualitative and qualified teachers which alone is the biggest
reason for finding substandard output in the market.
Teachers play a predominant role in making students industry ready. This is quite
possible when they are continuously in touch with the industry and well aware of the changing
trends and requirements of the industry and lack of which is a serious handicap and leads to
wider employability gap. It’s worthwhile if the faculty members undertake industrial projects in
collaboration with industry experts.
The teaching approaches such as learner-centered teaching, guided inquiry, active
learning, lecture, group work, and online discussions are to be chosen wisely. Use what works
best given your content and your students’ learning needs. The best advice is to be visual,
followed by keeping students actively thinking, writing, comparing, and applying new
knowledge. Students can easily learn morewhen they’ve been given the rationale for what they
are learning.
It is the prime responsibility of the teachers to have a thorough understanding of
individual differences of students in terms of the cognitive, emotional and social development.
Since a classroom is filled with a heterogeneous mix of students in many aspects, the respective
talents are to be identified and training should be given as per their knowledge.Student fit
approach programme should be adopted so that no student is left behind. All this is possible if an
institution has qualified and really qualitative faculty members which alone is half a solution for
making the students industry ready.
Organizing the Faculty Development Programmes by inviting the real time executives in
the companies as mentors, makes the faculty member more effective and well acquainted with
current trends in the industry.
Student evaluation methods
Student evaluation methods need to be changed. The present system of examination
pattern is leading the student to become rote learner instead of making them knowledgeable.
Evaluation should be done by requiring the students in the areas of decision making, analytical
thinking, problem solving, accessibility with the others, and adjustability with the conditions by
situating the students in prototype environment.
Examination pattern should comprise of Descriptive, objective, case analysis and viva.
Descriptive and case analysis for internal assessment; and objective and viva for external
examination, and the objective mode of examination should be online. Especially in case of case
study analysis the evaluator thoroughly should check if the student has sufficient understanding
of the concept and demonstrates skill in arriving at meaningful solutions. In the entire episode of
evaluation student’s communication skills and ease in using subject related technical terms need
to be observed.
Training and Placements
The institutions should have well trained and expert trainers to train the students and to
place them. The placement team should develop their rapport with local industries across various
states. The placement cell should teach soft skills, analytical skills, group discussion skills, and
verbal and non-verbal skills to make the student more confident. The practical exposure plays a
significant role in nurturing students' essential skills. The placement team should provide
industry relevant training programs and enable the students to undertake projects relevant to their
work domain which can help them to build their career in the related industry.
The placement cells of the colleges should conduct Tech-fairs to the students in
collaboration with industry. The coding fests, language and programming seminars, tech
competitions, hackathons and tech events so organized give required exposure to potential
graduates and also help these companies search the best candidates based on their skills.
Internship Programmes
Although there is a provision for internship during the study program in most of the
technical universities, yet the principle hasn't been followed properly for a long time. The
internship serves as the first step towards a professional career and this helps students to learn
and understand what it looks like in the industry, work processes, and job role etc., which
enhances their professional skills.
A good internship can increase the hiring chances manifold for a tech graduate. These days many
IT companies also offer PPOs (Pre-Placement Offers) with the internships and this gives a strong
head-start to the fresh graduate. Hence, it is advised the institutions that all the engineering and
management students should be placed in the industry for not less than six months or one year
after completion of their regular course work.
Online Classes
Maintaining the expert faculty members in all the areas of the course might not be
feasible for all the institutions. So, the video lectures of nationally and internationally eminent
professors and professionals should be made available to the students.
Prioritized Skill set to be equipped among the Students
Effective Communication and business presentations, Subject knowledge and in depth
technical competence related to the course, Team build building, Recognizing alternative routes
for task, Project management and Business Intelligence, Risk taking ability, Prioritizing tasks
based on its urgency, Ability to work independently, Multitasking skills, Basic computer
Knowledge, New skill adaption to new situations are some of the important technical skills to be
developed by the students to get in to the industry. In addition to this the behavioural skills like
Emotional Intelligence, Rapport with superiors and subordinates, Quick decision making, Stress
Management, Energy level with positive attitude, Passion towards the work, Adaptability and
Flexibility, Personal & corporate Etiquette, Strategic Thinking skills are to be developed.
Communication skills should be the one of the papers in each semester. Separate faculty
members should be recruited for this paper and proper care must be taken in each semester. Steps
should be taken to make the students learn the language fluently by the end of the final semester.
With regard to the SC and ST students, after completion of their basic degree or
graduation, special programmes should be designed for providing special training for acquiring
the industry expected skills or knowledge. Students are required to be in that camp for at least
one year and equip the skills needed to be placed in the companies or in the government sector.
Infrastructure Facilities
Modernization of infrastructure like improvement of laboratories to be in tune with
advancement of technology is very important and provides students with a realistic picture of the
job market beyond their college and university. Computer laboratories should be updated to
adopt online classes and online libraries. It helps them figure out what to expect when they enter
a career.
IMPLICATIONS TO THE INDUSTRY
Campus Recruitment is commonly viewed as an element in the socialization process prior
to organizational entry. During this stage, employers should attempt to convey their expectations
from the would-be graduating students rather than trying to attract the type of employee who is
most likely to be successful in the organization. Employability of graduates can be enhanced,
if industry works in connection with Universities. The corporate house is therefore expected to
participate and communicate their needs to the educational world than simply passing on the
blame onto academicians regarding failure in the development of employability skills.
Research and Development departments of the industrial units should be linked to the
educational institutions so that the knowledge sharing can be possible and institute can know
what exactly the industry is needed.
Pre-employment assessment tools help identify skills and traits in a candidate that are
often not detectable through simple cognitive and psychoanalysis tests. Organizations are
therefore adopting more innovative and advanced techniques to quickly attract and assess
candidates for multi-functional roles. HDFC Life makes for an interesting case study in this
respect. A few years ago, the bank used scientific assessments to tackle challenges associated
with sourcing the right-fit candidates and mitigate high attrition rates.
Recruiters often find it challenging to test the thinking capabilities and traits of
candidates, even though these can be crucial indictors of a candidate’s productivity. This is the
reason why companies have been turning to assessment firms to devise online scientific tests for
them. Innovative assessment firm offers tests such as Workplace Thinking Skills, Willingness to
Learn, Management Success Profile and Retention Profile, to help recruiters assess traits that
indicate higher productivity.
IMPLICATIONS TO POLICY MAKERS
Enhancing the assessment and accreditation system to ensure quality in the higher
education programmes is the responsibility of the governments. Institutions, where the minimum
facilities either infrastructure or academic are not present, should be closed immediately. Many
MBA colleges have more admissions beyond their required capacities. Permissions should be
given after proper assessment.
State and federal funding for students engaged in internships and employers offering
meaningful learning opportunities through supervised internships are increasing as a way to
rejuvenate the economy. Providing students with the experience and opportunity to develop
skills necessary to be successful in the workplace is a way to address the lack of employer
training programs for new employees and determine if the individual is a fit for the organization
prior to an official hire. Assessing student skill development should continue to be a focus for
future studies as it can influence pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning.
CONCLUSION
Study reveals that gap is found between industry and techno-Management Students
relating to all kinds of skills such as Functional Skills, Creative and Problem Solving Skills,
Programming and Technical Skills, Organizational Skills, Analytical Skills etc. which may be
said as one of the prime causes for unemployability in India. Reasons for the skill gap are many
like lack of required institutional infrastructure, poor teacher quality and poor student evaluation,
weedy curriculum, substandard teaching practices etc. with regard to the Scand SC Students,, in
addition to the said reasons there are some other reasons such as lack of proper financial support,
illiteracy unawareness of the parents and siblings etc. are influencing more for reduced
unemployability among the SC and ST students. But, this gap can be reduced if industry works
in connection with Universities/Higher educational institutions and the government takes proper
measures towards the institutions as well as the students.
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